


Tiny Fingers

by MsMeiriona



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-12-15
Updated: 2013-02-07
Packaged: 2017-11-21 05:46:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/594129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MsMeiriona/pseuds/MsMeiriona
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A new life growing should be a wonderful event.<br/>Even if the parents are Belle and Rumplestiltskin.</p>
<p>But magic isn't kind.</p>
<p>And the tiny figure in her womb might turn Belle's life into a living nightmare.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Something the matter

**Author's Note:**

> So, those of you in the RMC or who follow me on tumblr have probably seen my babbling mindlessly about this thing for a while now, talking about how much it HURTS.
> 
> Well, I'm taking lessons from the greats when it comes to writing Rumbelle that makes you suffer. Obviously I'm not to the level of the War Council yet, and bringing babies into these things as a source of angst and not a relief from it is probably against some sort of Rumbelle War Geneva Convention. But here it is. Enjoy the pain.

They weren't married, but thankfully in this world, it wasn't uncommon (or so she had been told) for a formal wedding to be years in the making, and a relationship to proceed without one. It was assumed a wedding would happen eventually, in this case. When certain quests had been completed, long hatreds put to rest. It was only a matter of time before they would take vows. Everyone knew that, even if they couldn't fathom _why_.  
  
So, while there was nothing legally binding them together, people around town had taken to treating them as if they were wed. She'd managed to prevent the children from calling her "Mrs. Gold" though she'd overheard plenty of adults use the name. (Among other less than sympathetic titles that they'd given her, though Ruby had threatened to bite the woman who made a tasteless remark calling her "Two kinds of Gold-digger" where the wolf-girl could hear it.)  
  
All in all, there was no reason for her to be surprised when her courses stopped. Though she'd been terrified at the prospect of becoming a mother unwed, the look on Rumplestiltskin's face when she'd told him of her suspicions had been enough to reassure her that everything would be fine. That he'd insisted on accompanying Belle to every doctor's visit, knowing how she hated the place, had brought fresh whispers from the gossips, and smiles from those few sympathetic to her love.  
  
But smiles and laughter vanished from her life quite quickly, when the images of her growing child showed that... quite simply, the child _wasn't_ growing.  
  
"Mrs. Er, rather, Ms. Belle, the thing is, a foetus of this size we would date as being six weeks of gestation." Said the young doctor, trying desperately not to look at the man at her side and focus only on the woman she was speaking to.

"But how can that be?" She asked, terrified of what the answer would be, clutching tight to Rumplestiltskin's hand as they looked over the images. "I'm at _thirteen_ weeks, not six. Is there something the matter?"  
  
"Ordinarily we would look at your health for a cause, for infections, anaemia," The doctor pointedly avoided her gaze. "Or substance abuse."  
  
"She hasn't had so much as a drop of wine since the possibility of being with child arose." Gold snapped. Belle sighed at this. He was at it again. Coming to her entirely unneeded defence as always.  
  
"I never said otherwise, Mr. Gold. I can see this is not Ms. Belle's fault."  
  
"Are you saying it's mine then?"  
  
The young doctor wisely sidestepped the accusation and turned conversation back to the facts of the matter. "The foetus is smaller than anything I've seen in any of the cases I've researched." It had to be research, the only birth in Storybrooke was Ashley, and her pregnancy was far advanced by the time they'd come here in the first place. Any half trained midwife could have done as well with that case. Even with twenty eight years of medical experience, time did not pass, not in ways beyond healing of scrapes. Never had any of the hospital staff really needed to use their medical knowledge, the degrees were false, curse-provided memories of med school no match for the real thing. She had no desire to place fault anywhere, lest her credentials be brought up again. "I would venture to suggest... That the child has died, and the pregnancy has yet to terminate properly."  
  
There was a snarl of anger, surprisingly from Belle herself. "No. My daughter is alive. I would know if she had died. I would." She said fiercely, staring daggers at the poor woman who had dared suggest otherwise.  
  
"Then, ma'am, I am at a loss. Perhaps some magic might have changed things? The curse that trapped us in time? Science certainly isn't going to offer you any other explanations than those you have rejected. That leaves magic, and I am not the person to consult in those matters. You'll have to go elsewhere for that kind of knowledge." The doctor managed to avoid naming anyone or even implying who should be sought with a remarkable amount of subtlety. Magic wasn't a common skill, true, but the town held a variety of users. Any one of them might be able to shed further light on the situation.  
  
Rumplestiltskin was uncharacteristically still. His knuckles whitened as he gripped his cane, instead of the usual constant motion, the squeezes of her hand as much to reassure himself as anything else. Ordinarily, his hands moved unconsciously, showing his every thought to those who knew how to read the rolling of his fingers.

"Thank you. We'll do that." He said, placing a hand on Belle's back to escort her out.  
  
He was quiet all the ride back to the library, and when she asked what he was planning, he stalled and tried to make excuses. He tried to tell her it was nothing for her to worry about, his business. That went over about as well as could be expected.  
  
"I'm not putting up with your games, Rumplestiltskin. Like it or not, this child is both of ours, and I had _thought_ you understood that I trusted you to be her father. I apparently have every right to deny you that, the town thinks I should have nothing to do with you, and if you can't be honest with me, well." The look said enough. "What. Are you planning?"  
  
"Gnnahevalk...tblefree."  
  
"What was that?" Belle cupped a hand to her ear and tapped her foot.  
  
"I'm going to have to talk to the Blue Fairy. I have a vague memory of something like this happening many years ago in our land. But that was with plentiful magic, and I do not believe I ever heard properly what the cause was. It wasn't my kind of deal, you see."  
  
Belle took his hand, knowing a little how he felt about the Blue Fairy, that he'd go to her for help was a sign of how worried he was.  
  
"Belle, I've already lost-" He began, and choked on the words.  
  
"One child due to magic. I know. Do you want to go together to speak with her?" She didn't want to assume, but felt that making the offer was more important than whatever his answer was. They were always stronger together, and it was her place to decide when she would remain by his side and when she walked alone.  
  
That was how their relationship worked. She held the reins. She made the first move. She was the one who had dragged him into her bed one night when he'd gotten overly flustered after a good-night kiss at the door turned far more heated. He would never take any initiative when it came to advancing things, but halting them, he never seemed ashamed if he felt things were moving too fast or too far. The one time he hesitated over speaking his doubts had ended with them mistakenly handcuffed together in her bed for three hours before they'd gotten the courage to call Ruby to bring them a set of bolt cutters. (He couldn't make the right gestures with his hands bound as they were, and they'd sworn off those kinds of games afterwards. It turned out neither of them could treat chains as a toy, even with their True Love.)  
  
So when he murmured a denial, saying he needed to do this alone, Belle accepted it as being his choice, and not some move to protect her or keep her ignorant. They both new better than to try that. For her part, Belle would do her own research on undersized children, and what she could do to help. Perhaps there was something the doctor had missed.

\---

"Hello there sister. No, this isn't about the rent, though if the Mother Superior is helpful enough and civil enough," He raised his voice so that both the woman in the office and the gaggle of nuns eavesdropping from around the corner could clearly hear his words. "I may see fit to reduce or even forgive this month's rent. So it is in your best interests to see that I leave with the information I need."  
  
The Blue Fairy had opened her door and wordlessly gestured for him to come inside, but Gold had one last word for the sister who had greeted him, flustered and babbling, when he arrived. "Take a break, dearie. Go have a meal at the diner. Ask Ruby for her single special. She'll know what it means." There, good deed done for the day. Belle would appreciate it.   
  
"What can I help you with, Mr. Gold?"  
  
Oh, that was good. She'd taken his words to heart.  
  
"Do you recall a little boy called Tom Thumb? I believe it was your kind who dealt with that incident, though I never met the lad myself." He smiled, though merely to have an excuse to bare his teeth.  
  
"I do. The woman could conceive but never carry a child to term, sought out magic to allow it. It happened that once a child reached a certain size, her womb would cast it forth. So, the enchantment kept the boy under that size until it was time for him to be born."  
  
He paced, rather than take the offered seat. "This enchantment, could it be broken? Was it a potion she took, a spell in the blood?"  
  
Blue cocked her head to the side. "Why the sudden interest in history, Rumplestiltskin? That was over a century ago, our twenty eight years frozen notwithstanding." She sat behind her desk, watching him carefully.  
  
" _Reul Ghorm_ , I have no time for games. There is one reason and one reason alone I have called on you in the past, if you recall. I lost my son because of your little gift."   
  
"You drove him away! We had this conversation then do we have to rehash it now?"   
  
"Shut up! I lost one child already, _I will not lose another_ , and if you are even a scrap as good and kind as you pretend to be, you will _help_ me."   
  
The rage and terror of his words must have stirred something in her, because now the Mother Superior looked worried. "This is to do with Belle, then? Has something happened to her, did she miscarry?" Thankfully, Belle had a good friend in one of the dwarves, which meant the fairies at least tolerated her.  
  
"The child isn't growing. Still barely bigger than a _bean_." He spit the word out. "The doctors have no solution, and questioned if magic might be involved. You've told me it's been done before, in our land. If someone lay that spell on her, would you be able to recognize it? To break it?"  
  
Blue had already gone for her jacket, fastening the caplet into place. "With Tom Thumb, his mother wore an amulet. All she had to do was take it off. This is something different. I'll have to look, but it might be something the Queen did."  
  
Gold swore, and pushed the speed limits far more than simply having a person he had no fondness for in the passenger's seat could allow for. When they pulled up at the library, he'd already decided if Regina were responsible, he would give her to Belle to do with as she pleased. Even his bright and beautiful Belle would not tolerate something that threatened her child.   
  
"Rumplestiltskin, what's the matter?" She was more than a bit off balance when he swept in, Blue Fairy behind him, and insisted she lay down on one of the couches. "Did you discover something?"  
  
It was the Blue Fairy who answered, pulling over a pair of chairs so she and Rumplestiltskin could sit in front of the couch where Belle lay, hands hovering over her stomach. "If it's magic that's responsible, at least one of us will be able to find it. You didn't accept any jewellery from anyone? Don't have anything you wear without ever taking it off?"  
  
Belle shook her head. "No, there's nothing like that."   
  
"She won't even let me get her a ring." Gold muttered, obviously a long standing argument between them.  
  
"Only because you refuse to just make one from the gold you've spun. I don't need a ring that is worth as much as a small country!" She propped herself up on her elbows to watch. "And before you ask, I take precautions against potential magic attack. I clean my hairbrush after every use and dispose of the hair down the toilet. Anything that happens to become stained by my blood is cleaned thoroughly so not a drop remains, and I don't leave possessions lying around where they can be taken. I know that I'm a potential weapon, and I take care that I know what goes into my body." She'd been educated early into their relationship, so that she would have the active role in her own defences. He'd also bought her a stun-gun as their one month anniversary gift. Safer than a firearm and easy to use. Probably drop a cow, the shock on that thing. Just the sound of it scared the hell out of just about anyone.  
  
"Then how did this get in her?" Blue murmured, puzzled. "It's not the queen's work."   
  
"That means nothing, as you should know, she begs borrows and steals as much magic as she can. What do you see?" Rumplestiltskin sounded worried, but thankfully Blue seemed only confused.  
  
"It's some fertility related spell. Only it's... Well the only word I could use is stained. It shouldn't react like this to my prodding in a normal case. If it were a proper fertility spell, it would just be continuing to ensure that there was healthy growth. But something's off about it, it's been altered, not by design, almost as if the spells been confused as to its purpose. Look, Rumplestiltskin, I'll make it flare, see there?"   
  
"I see it now. How the devil did something like this happen? It almost looks like a family line curse, in the way it's structured."   
  
"You still jump to a curse instead of a blessing."   
  
"In what world is a child unable to grow a blessing, you daft fairy?"  
  
Belle felt herself grow nauseous at the words and magic coming from the pair. Family line. That meant her father might be involved. They'd only barely gotten things resolved between the two of them. She thought she could trust him.  
  
"Stop. Please. We need to speak to my father."  
  
Both figures ceased their chatter and stared at her.   
"Oh Belle, we needn't open that wound again so soon."   
"No, she's right. And you're right; it does seem to be bonded to her family line. Speak to her father, see if there's magic in their history."  
  
Rumplestiltskin groaned. He hated speaking with Moe French more than he hated the nuns. "And what, pray tell, will you be doing, remember there's a month's rent on the line."  
  
Mother Superior rolled her eyes. "I'm going to talk with the fairy godmothers of course! Her father might be ignorant of magic cast many generations past, but if someone laid a fertility spell on her line, it would have been recorded."  
  
She helped Belle to her feet. "Those records wouldn't have come across, but someone might remember. From there, if we know what kind of fertility spell it was, we can find out what stained it more easily."   
  
"Thank you." Belle said quietly, hands clasped on her flat stomach in worry. Knowing for certain that there was magic involved might limit the potential tragedy of some of the conditions she'd researched, but it also meant that she had less she could do to help the situation. Why did magic have to bring more problems than it solved?

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dinner with the French-Gold family.  
> Also pain.  
> But then what did you expect of this?

Rumplestiltskin insisted on being present when she talked with her father, so she had to employ a rather duplicitous turn of words when she invited him to dinner with her. If he had any idea it would be more than the two of them, Moe French would likely never agree to come. So, she had requested a dinner with all the family she had left, one she would cook with her own two hands. There was some trouble getting an evening set aside that worked for all parties, but it was finally arranged. Her apartment smelled of cooking and the floral arrangement her father had brought her.   
  
It wasn't until she was setting out the plates that he caught on, as Rumplestiltskin had been willing to wait in the bedroom (she'd given him a book to read to pass the time as well as a warning that she knew the contents of her underwear drawer well enough that she would know immediately if anything were meddled with.)   
  
"Oh no, I'm not having that... that creature... sullying our family meal."   
  
"Then we'll skip the meal and get right to the point, Mr. French." Hearing the fight that was about to begin, Belle shook her head and made sure the platter with the fish made and extra loud clank as she set it down.   
  
"We will be having a civil meal, the both of you will enjoy it and compliment my cooking, and Papa, you and I will discuss family history. For the sake of your grandchild."  
  
Maurice looked about to be ill, but Belle was not going to let that stop her from getting the information she needed.  
  
It was a tense meal, and very little attempts at small talk made it beyond grunted replies from the men. Sighing, she finally capitulated and got to the point.   
  
"Papa, I need to know if there's any history of magic in our family. Any fertility spells or blessings to ease childbirth or anything like that." She avoided looking at Gold at that moment, knowing she would see suspicion and misplaced hatred. The Queen's lies cut so deeply because of how easily it could be true. The idea that her own father would see her as tainted for loving as she did, well, he'd all but had that confirmed didn't he? No, it wasn't worth it to look right now. Instead, she took her father's hand and pleaded. "There's something wrong with my child, papa, some magic gone astray. I need to know."   
  
"If it's magic, you know where to place the blame." The scorn in her father's voice hurt Belle, but he obviously couldn't see it, so intent on making his point before grievous bodily harm befell him. "Look what you chose to sire it! _That's_ where you'll find your tainting, I'll guarantee. I thought I raised a clever girl, even a child could see he's no fit father."   
  
"Why you self righteous old-" Rumplestiltskin had risen to his feet, knuckles white around his cane, but Belle was the one holding back white hot rage now.  
  
"Rumplestiltskin SIT DOWN. Father, bite your tongue. I have neither the time nor the will to argue about my choices and my love with you right now. What I need to know is if, as far as you are aware, there are any blessings or curses on our family line that might have carried over to this world."  
  
She had actually taken the cane out of Rumplestiltskin's hand and hooked it over the back of her own chair, not pleased with how quickly things had descended into madness. It was in her mind that a good smack would serve them both right. But she was better than that.  
  
After a while, Maurice finally shook his head. "I never heard that there was any magic in it, but your mother said all the women in her family had an easier time than most with their pregnancies. That the sickness was mild, appetite normal. No swelling or bruising. She said they had the fortune of the babe never kicking them sore like their peers suffered, that they had energy enough to be up and about until the day of the birth. I thought she was merely from a line suited to childbearing. But it could have been magic. Would something like that have been able to carry over to this world?"  
  
Rumplestiltskin massaged his temples and groaned. "Ease of childbearing? A blessing like that would lie dormant until she conceived. Without a child in the womb to draw on it, there would be no need for any magic to keep it active. And there's been magic in Storybrooke long before Belle got with child. So yes. In short. It could have. Because it would be such a tiny magic, it would be entirely possible to make it through."  
  
Belle looked happier than she had since the doctor's office, so the bad news would have to wait. No reason to mention it in front of her father, especially when it was just a theory at the moment. "Belle, I'm going to go make a call to the convent, tell Mother Superior what we've learned."  
  
Belle gave him a look that both thanked and warned him, and passed the cane to him as he stepped into the hall to make his call.  
  
"Thank you, for telling us this." She began in a low tone, not sure how to explain the situation in whole to her father. "Papa, I know you and Rumplestiltskin have your issues, I understand that. But, he wants more than anything to be a good father. And when we found out the baby wasn't growing as she should... He already blames himself. Please, I believe in him. Can't you believe in me?"  
  
Moe looked at his daughter, unsure and worried. She'd always be the strong one, it seemed. "I'm trying, my dear. It's hard to see him as anything but the Dark One, or you as anything but the girl I dandled on my knee. I can't help but feel you deserve someone better."   
  
"One thing you and he agree on, and you're both wrong in it."   
  
"But I _do_ see that you have no desire for anyone better, or even different. I don't know why you feel that way, but Belle, I need you to promise me, if he ever hurts you on purpose, ever, you get out."  
  
Belle laughed, though it was a tear-choked laugh. "Papa, he could never hurt me on purpose and have it be anywhere near as bad as how I've been hurt by actions meant to protect me. But I promise you, I have a baby to think about. I won't risk getting hurt and exposing her to harm."  
  
She knew, no matter what the doctors said about it being too early to tell, that the child would be a girl. Not only had Snow fetched a necklace that was supposed to predict the sex of a child, she just felt sure of it, even before the swinging pedant confirmed her intuition. It was certain in her mind that, undersized or not, she would be giving birth to a daughter.  
\---  
"Her father seemed unconvinced it was magic, but claimed her mother came from a line of women who had remarkably easy pregnancies. On their feet until the day of the birth, and this in the nobility. It's one thing for a farmer's wife to work without rest, give birth in the field, she has no choice. But a woman who married a landed knight? I'd say we've found our magic." The whispered words over the line were spoken quickly, without any pleasantries or courtesies exchanged beforehand.  
  
 _"Well, I haven't found any fairy who remembers such a thing, but something like that doesn't require a great deal of skill, though for it to last more than a few generations would indicate a large amount of raw power behind it. There's very little complexity to a blessing like that, and since it doesn't activate until a child is present..."  
_  
"Yes, even time spent in a land without magic won't dispel it, so long as there is magic once the child is conceived. More to the point, what caused the blessing to mutate as it did?"   
  
_"Ah. Well. On that, we are much closer to certainty. I'm sorry, Rumplestiltskin, but as I'm sure you suspected, it appears some of your curse, your magic, latched onto hers. Some of the preserving power is preventing growth while promoting health."  
_  
It was like a punch in the stomach, to hear it confirmed. 'My fault. This is my fault. I really do destroy everything I love.'  
  
 _"Hello? Are you still there? ...If Astrid forgot to send the check and our phone is cut off again..."  
_  
"No, no, I'm just. I ruined it."   
  
_"Ruined what? Things worked out just fine for Tom Thumb."  
_  
"In the old world! I can't get a mouse for a wet-nurse, a gnome for a nanny! How will I be able to even hear her cries in the night?"   
  
_"I thought it was still too early to determine sex, especially with the size."  
_  
"Belle is sure. That's enough for me. More to the point, can it be fixed? My expertise is curses, not cures, but if it can be done, I will find a way."  
  
The line went silent, and faintly the conversation in the kitchen came to his ears, father and daughter sharing some memory of childhood, skinned knees and tree climbing.  
  
 _"It... It can be done. But to remove your magic from hers, you would have to first remove the product of the joining."  
_  
Remove the product... No. Never. "We are not losing this child!"   
  
_"There is no other way, you can't disconnect the blessing from the babe; if you take apart the magic, the pregnancy will terminate."  
_  
"You lie!"   
  
_"Rumplestiltskin, please."  
_   
"You just want to take another child from me! Are you such a bitter old hag that you can't let anyone have both magic and family?" His voice rose with every word. "You think I haven't sacrificed enough? I lost _everything_ , everything that ever mattered to me! I burned the world for one child, one child who hid his shame and fear at having me for a father. Do you think, for one instant, that I won't do the same for another?" He was shouting now, and Belle stood in the doorway, fear evident on her face, though his back was to her so he couldn't see it, had no reason to modify his words. "There are only three beings in this world that matter at all to me, my _family_! You know _nothing_ of family, you with your eternal power and your underlings and your hierarchy." A hand touched his shoulder lightly, and it snapped him out of his rage, the sight of Belle filled with fear.   
  
"Find another way. Or I triple your rent." The words were without conviction, however, and the call ended, tears streaming down his face.  
  
Moe French, clearing dishes away, found himself unable to let certain words go. 'I burned the world for one child'  
  
The Dark One had a child? A child he had lost? Suddenly his earlier strike at the man's being no father had a different implication. "Oh hell. I have to apologize to the old monster." He said quietly, and pretended to look busy when the pair returned.

He'd have to handle this as a gentleman.

Now if only he could remember how to do that. 

 


End file.
